Method and apparatus for making fibrous sheet material



Dec. 3, 1935. c. w. LEGUILLON METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING FIBHOUS'SHEET MATERIAL Filed Aug. 25, 1952 4 Sheets-Sheet 1 iff 5- m MNH Dec. 3,1935. c. w. LEGUILLON METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING FIBROUS y.SHEETMATERIAL 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed Aug. 23, 1952 Mar 'wff- DCC. 3, C WLEGUILLON 2,023,273

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING FIBROUS SHEET MATERIAL Filed Aug. 23,1952 4 Sheets-Sheet 3 Dec. 3, 1935. c. w. LEGUILLON 2,023,273

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR MAKING FIBROUS SHEET MATERIAL Filed Aug. r25,1932 lemen-sheet 4 -7 Mr Zei/5- Patented Dec. 3, 1935 UNITED STATESMETHOD AND APPARATUS Foa MAKING FmaoUs SHEET MATERIAL Charles W.Leguillon, Akron, Ohio, assignor to The B. F. Goodrich Company, NewYork, N Y., a corporation of New York Application August 23, 1932,Serial No. 630,002

. 4 Claims.

This invention relates to the manufacture of fibrous sheet n*terial,especially sheet material of unwoven fibers held united at theircrossing positions in reticulated sheet form, such material beingespecially useful in the manufacture of cushioning bodies, for exampleas is described and claimed in the copending application of Carl H.Heldenbrand, Serial No. 557,810, filed August 18, 1931 and entitledCushioning bodies and method of producing the same.

The bers of such material are preferably animal hairs and are preferablyheld united in the reticulated sheet form by resilient rubbercomposition.

The chief objects of this invention are to pro-` vide procedure and toprovide apparatus for conveniently and efiiciently disposing the unwovenfibers in the reticulated sheet form, to provide for arranging a largepart of the fibers to extend in a generally longitudinal direction ofthe web, to provide for a high degree of 'uniformity of the fiberdistribution throughout the web area, to provide conveniently forforming the web to the desired fiber density within a usefully widerange of limits, and to provide for removing foreign particles from themass of fibers.

These and further objects will be apparent from the followingdescription, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a vertical section of apparatus constructed according to andembodying the invention in a preferred form.

' Fig'. 2 is a View taken along the line 2--2 of Fig. I, parts beingbroken away.

Fig. 3 is a view taken along the line 3-3 of Fig. 1.

Fig. 4 is a side elevation in section of a modified form of apparatusembodying the invention.

Fig. 5 is a side elevation of a further modified form of apparatusembodying the invention.

Fig. 6 is an end elevation of the apparatus of Fig. 5 as seen from theright.

Fig. 7 is a view taken along the line 1-1 of Fig. 5.

Fig. 8 is a view taken along the line 8-8 of Fig. 5.

With reference to the embodiment illustrated in Figs. 1 to 3, theapparatus in general comprises interrelated fiber-picking and transfermechanism and web-forming mechanism constructed and arranged foroperation by continu- .fjis process.

In a suitable supporting frame, as shown, a

picking drum I0, having teeth II, II projecting from its surface, ismounted for rotation on a horizontal axis within a casing I2 having amaterial receiving opening I3, a toothed picking portion I4, and adischarge passage I5. For feed ing a supply mass A of the fibers intothe opening I3 of the picker, a pair of gripper rolls I6, I1 is 5provided at the intake opening, the lower roll Il preferably supportingand driving the conveyor belt I8 for feeding the fibers into the bightbetween the roll and the belt.

, The belt I8 is preferably provided with mark- 10 .ings spaced atregular intervals longitudinally of the belt to facilitate the placingby the operator of masses of fibers in an approximately uniformdistribution upon the beltso that the fibers will be fed into the casingat substantially a l5 constant rate. 'I'he fibers may be placed upon thebelt in consecutive batches of substantially equal amounts anddistributed with approximate uniformity over the consecutive equal'areas indicated by the markings.

The drum I0 is revolved in the direction of the arrow of Fig. 1 by meansof a motor I9 and sprocket chain connection 20 at a suitably high speedto pick apart the fibers fed into the casing and to eject the loosefibers in a stream B through 25 the passage I5 of the casing, thearrangement being such that the teeth of the drum and the teeth of thecasing are of sufficiently small radial spacing at their tips to effectthe picking and ejection. 30 At the end of the discharge passage I5there is provided a casing extension or hood 2.I having its upper wallsloping downward to direct the stream y B of the fibers obliquelydownward onto a rising upper portion of the surface of a revolving drum22, this drum being mounted preferably in a sufficiently spaced relationto the discharge passage I5 of casing I2 to permit the fibers to becomewell distributed in the stream before they reach the drum. 40 The wallof the drum 22 is perforate and in thel illustrated embodiment comprisesa supporting structure 23 of wire screen or other stiff perforatevmaterial having a surface covering 24 of fabric of a suitable small meshto pass air but not the fibers and foreign particles other than minutedust.

Within the drum is' disposed' a non-rotatably mounted suction manifold25, and an air conducting box 26 extending lengthwise of the drum andhaving its radially outward end open and fold 25 is perforated at theinner end of the suc- 55 tion box 26, and for maintaining the air flow,a suction device 21 is provided exteriorly of the drum in connectionwith the manifold.

By this construction the fibers of the stream B are caused to be drawnonto the drum surface and held thereon in a layer C as the drum rotates,and inasmuch as the fibers are received upon a non-horizontal portion ofthe drum surface, relatively heavy foreign particles, such as bony partsthat sometimes are found in masses of animal hair, are caused to falland be thereby separated from the fibers, the force of the air suctionbeing maintained at a degree insufficient to hold the heavier particlesagainst the drum and at the same time suflicient to retain the fibers onthe drum. The removal of some of the foreign particles may occur beforethe stream reaches the drum, the spacing of the picker and drum in ahorizontal direction permitting this, which may be assisted also bytheir rebounding from contact with the hood 2I A suitable receptacle 38may be provided to catch the dropped particles. Dust particles that aresmall enough to pass through the perforations of the drum wall areremoved and withdrawn in that manner by the suction mechanism, and thusthe mass of fibers is subjected to a cleaning operation which isdesirable especially for the subsequent operation of uniting the fibersby the application of a fiexible agglutinant.

The drum 22 is provided also with a fiber discharging device, comprisingpreferably a plurality of blower nozzles 28, 28 disposed within the drumto direct a fiow of air against a lower portion of its perforate surfaceto force of in a stream D the fibers that have been deposited on thedrum and deposit them upon a, continuously moving surface which may bein the form of an endless belt 3I.

For compactness of structure the nozzles 28, 28 are connected with anair supplying manifold 28 mounted within the suction manifold 25, thenozzles extending through the wall of the manifold 25. An air conductingbox 30 is mounted upon the manifold 25 in air receiving relation to thenozzles 28, 28, and has an open outer end disposed close to the innerwall of the perforate drum to direct the air through the drum wall alongits length and over a perlpherally limited extent of the latter.

The fibers of the stream D are progressively deposited upon the surfaceof the moving conveyor 3l in a layer E of substantially uniformthickness and fiber distribution, the fibers being crossed with oneanother in approximately horizontal directions. By moving the conveyorbelt 3| and rotating the drum 22 at the proper speeds, preferably sothat their peripheral speeds are approximately equal, or slightlygreater as regards the conveyor 3I, and by maintaining the proper smalldegree of blower pressure suflicient only to force the fibers from thedrum surface, a large majority of the fibers will be positioned toextend in a direction more nearly longitudinal with respect to the webthan transversely thereof, while nevertheless being disposed in crossingrelation, this arrangement of the fibers being especially desirablewhere the sheet is ultimately formed into cells so that a large part ofthe fibers will extend in the direction of curvature of the sheet formaximum strength.

This disposition of the fibers predominantly in a generally longitudinaldirection of the web E apparently results from the fact that as thefibers carried on the drum come into the zone of the air blown throughthe drum, one end of each of most of the fibers comes under theinfluence of the discharging air before the other end of the fiber sothat as the fiber leaves the drum it is caused by the current of air toextend more nearly in the direction of the fiow, if it is not alreadynearly in that position. The generally longitudinal disposition of thefibers apparently results also from the fact that as the fibers aredeposited upon the belt 3l the leading end of each fiber is drawnforward by its contact with the moving belt or with the fibers thereuponwhile the other end of the fiber is moving at a slower speed, andapparently the trailing end of the fiber is restrained somewhat by itscontact with the other fiber of the stream. which action promotes thegenerally longitudinal disposition of the fibers.

For uniting the fibers of the layer E at their crossing positions toform the reticulated sheet, a. fiexible agglutinant, preferably rubbercomposition, may be applied, as by means of a suitable spraying device32 depositing a liquid dispersion of the agglutinant upon the fibers asthe layer is moved away from the fiber distributing mechanism by thebelt 3l.

The roller I I of the feeding mechanism and the fiber distributing drum22 are preferably driven together in variable timed relation so that thefiber density of the layer E can be regulated within close limits. Forthis purpose the drum 22 is provided with a sprccket 33 which is drivenby a sprocket chain 34 that is connected with a suitable source of power(not shown) by means of a driving chain connection 35, the sprocketchain 34 being arranged also to drive the roller I'I of the feedingmechanism through a variable speed device 36 and a driving connection31.

In operation, the roller I1 of the feeding mechanism and the berdistributing drum 22 are set in motion in the direction indicated by thear rows in Fig. l by means of the interconnected driving mechanism abovedescribed, the picking drum I Il is rotated at the proper speed by themotor I9, and the conveyor 3l is moved at a constant speed by anysuitable driving means (not shown). A mass of fibers A is then fed intothe picking mechanism by means of the conveyor I8 and the rolls I6 andIl.

The fibers are supplied to the conveyor I8 preferably in small batchesof substantially uniform weight, the batches being spread by theoperator with approximate uniformity over consecutive equal areas of thebelt, so that the fibers will be fed at a substantially uniform rate andnot in bunches. The longitudinally spaced markings on the belt,previously described facilitate this operation.

On entering the casing the fibers are separated by the action of thetoothed picker drum I0 and the loose fibers are forced in the stream Bthrough the exit passage I5 of the picker casing I2 and downwardly in anoblique path through the hood 2I toward the perforate receiving drum 22.By means of the suction box 26 and the associated suction mechanism airis drawn through the perforate drum wall locally in the direction of thestream of fibers and the latter are thus caused to be deposited upon thesurface of the drum in the layer C as the drum rotates.

While the fibers are drawn onto and held against the drum they aresubjected to a cleaning operation. Relatively heavy foreign particleswhich may be present in the fiber supply mass are caused to drop and beseparated from the fibers deposited upon the drum, the degree of suctionbeing such as to draw and hold the fibers but not the heavier foreignparticles against the sloping surface of the drum in the path of thestream B, the dust particles accompanying the fibers are drawn throughthe perforations of the drum wall and are removed by the suctionmechanism.

The fibers of the layer C are carried upon the drum for a partrevolution of the latter until they reach the zone of the blower box 30,where partly by gravity and partly by the flow of air from the nozzles28, 28 through the box 30 and perforate drum wall, the fibers are causedto be progressively deposited in the layer E upon the moving conveyorbelt 3|. As heretofore explained, the fibers are caused to lie cro/ssingone another in the layer E and extending predominantly in a generallylongitudinal direction with respect to the web, and the web is formedwith substantially uniform'thickness and fiber density through its area.

While the fibers are thus arranged upon the conveyor belt, a flexibleagglutinant is applied to them, as by means of the spray device 32, tounite the fibers at their crossing positions to form a reticulated sheetof sufcient tenacity to be further manipulated for further operationssuch as drying, further coating, shaping and vulcanization, for exampleas is described in the copending application, Serial No. 557,810, abovereferred to.

In the embodiment of Fig. 4 the apparatus comprises a hopper 40 for asupply mass F of the fibers. Within the hopper is disposed an endlessbelt 4| of card cloth or other flexible toothed structure partiallysupporting the mass of fibers and mounted upon upper and lower pulleys42 and 43 respectively for movement of its fiber contacting reach in anupward direction to convey a layer of fibers out of the hopper. Forfacilitating engagement of the fibers with the belt 4| a second belt 44is mounted in the hopper for movement of its fiber contacting reachobliquely downward toward the lower end of the lifting belt 4| to movethe fibers in that direction. This belt may have a plain or cleatedsurface as desired.

At the upper end of the hopper, adjacent the lifting belt 4I, is mounteda rotary brush 45 in such relation'as to remove from the belt all but alayer of approximately uniform thickness and to return the surpluslbers, to the hopper. The desired action of the brush 45 may be had byan arrangement such that the tips of the bristles are slightly spacedradially from the tips of the teeth of the belt, whereby the fibersprotected by the teeth of the belt will not be removed by this brush.

The fibers remaining on the belt are carried parially around the pulley42 and are removed by means of a second rotating brush 41 mounted Iinsuch relation that its bristles contact the surface of the belt toremove the fibers from between the teeth and force them away, the fibersby these manipulations being separated from one another. The brush 41contacts the belt preferably at a position of the belts curvature on thepulley before the latter has straightened into its return reach so thatthe bers will be discharged in a stream G well away from the belt.

A perforate drum 48, similar in construction to the drum 22 of theembodiment of Fig. l, is mounted in receiving relation to the stream G`of fibers discharged by the brush 41, the drum 48 being provided at itsinterior with a stationary suction box 49 and suction manifold 50 fordraw-Y ing the fibers onto the surface of the drum at the mouth ofthesuction box, and for causing relatively heavy particles to beseparated from the fibers by gravity, and dust particles to be removedfrom the. fibers by the suction' mechanism, as in the first embodiment.A suitableA receptacle 62 may be provided to catch the 5 droppedparticles. Also, as inthe first embodiment, the drum is provided in itsinterior with a plurality of blower nozzles 5|, directing air through ablower box 52 and the perforate drum wall at a position peripherallyspaced from the 10 suction box to discharge in a stream H the fibersthat are carried upon the drum from the zone of the suction box to thatof the discharge box. A moving conveyor belt 53 is positioned to receiveupon it the discharged fibers in a layer I in 15 which the fibers aredistributed in crossed relation and predominantly in a generallongitudinal direction of the layer with a high degree of uniformity oflayer thickness and ber density in a manner similar to that describedfor the first 20 embodiment.

For driving the moving parts in their proper directions, as indicated bythe arrows in Fig. 4, the drum 48 may be independently driven from asuitable source of power (not shown) by means 25 of sprocket chainconnections 54 and 55, and the remaining parts driven together fromanother source of power (not shown) by means of a sprocket chainconnection 56 driving the brush 45. from which brush 41 and pulley 42 ofthe 30 lifting belt 4| are driven by a gear connection 51, the belt 44being driven from pulley 43 of the belt 4| by sprocket chain connection58, and the conveyor belt 53 being driven from the pulley 43 by means ofsprocket chain connections 59 and 315,1

through an interconnected variable speed device 6|.

By properly regulating the relative speeds between the conveyor belt 53and the other moving parts the layer I can be made of the desired ber 40density within a usefully'wide range of limits.

The flbers of the layer I are then united at their crossing positions toform the reticulated sheet, preferably by the application of a rubbercomposition, in a manner as described for the 45 first embodiment.

In the embodiment of Figs. 5 to 8, a supply mass J of fibers is fed by aconveyor 10 and dumped into a picker mechanism comprising a casing 12mounted in a suitable supporting frame 50 as shownV and having at itsupper side a ber receiving hopper 13 positioned at the end of thefeeding conveyor 1i), the lower end of the hopper opening inte .hecasing 12. A pair of elongated picker members 14 and 15 each havingseries of 55 radially projecting spikes 16, 11, respectively, aremounted within the casing for rotation about horizontal, parallel axestransverse to the conveyor belt 1|, these picker members being disposedfor passing movement of the spikes of one 60 between the spikes of theother in axially overlapping relation for effective ber picking. Theinner side walls of the casing are preferably provided with a series ofstationary spikes or teeth 18, 18 lying between the moving teeth 16, 11for 65 operation on` fibers carried around by the rotating pickermembers.

The picker members are rotated in the opposite directions indicated bythe arrows in Fig. 5, the two being driven together at different rota-70 tive speeds by means of meshing gears 80, 8| of unequal size foreffectively picking the fibers apart and working them to the lower partof the casing.

yThe lower wall of the casing has an opening u 82 and directly beneaththis opening is mounted a horizontally reciprocable shaker screen 83v insuch rtlation as to sift the separated fibers and distribute them in astream K upon a moving conveyor belt 1| to form progressively a layer Lof the fibers in crossed relation upon the latter.

The shaker screen is provided with a marginally flanged frame 8l and issupported at the fiange of the frame for the reciprocatory movement uponrollers 85, 85 which are rotatably mounted on horizontal axes at thelower ends of vertical brackets 86, 86 secured to the casing. Forlaterally guiding the shaker screen, rollers 81, 81 are mounted onvertical axes at the lower ends of vertical brackets 88, 88 and engagethe sides of the screen frame 84.

Pivoted to one end of the shaker screen frame are a pair of laterallyspaced connecting rods 89, 89 which are connected at their other ends tocranks 9U, 90 of a crank shaft 9|. For operating the crank shaft andconnecting rods to reciprocate the shaker screen a sprocket chaindriving connection 92 is provided between the shaft 9| and a shaft 93,the latter of which extends only part way across the apparatus (Fig. 6),and is rotated by means of a variable speed drive 94 connected to adrive shaft 95 which is driven through a belt drive 96 by a motor 91.

The shafts of the rotatable and geared picker members 14 and 15 arerotated by means of a sprocket chain connection 98 from a shaft 99 whichis axially aligned with the shaft 93 but rotatable independently thereof(Fig. 6) and is driven through a variable speed device |00 from theabove-mentioned driving shaft 95.

The conveyor belts 10 and 1I are moved together by means of a sprocketchain connection ||l| between the shafts of an end pulley of each, andthese belts are driven by a suitable source of power (not shown).

In the operation of the embodiment of Figs. 5 to 8, the conveyors 18 and1|, the picker members 14 and 15, and the shaker screen 83 are set inmotion by the mechanisms above described. A supply of fibers is then fedby the conveyor 10 into the hopper 13, the fibers being preferablyarranged upon the conveyor by the operator in consecutive batches ofsubstantially equal amounts, the batch being distributed withapproximate uniformity over consecutive equal areas o-f the belt so thatthe bers will be fed at a substantially constant rate. For facilitatingthis the belt 10 may be provided with markings spaced at uniformdistances longitudinally of the belt to indicate to the operator theconsecutive i equal areas of the belt, in a. manner similar to thatdescribed for the supply conveyor of the embodiment of Fig. 1.

The fibers pass throughthe hopper 13 into the casing 12 of the pickermechanism. Here the spikes of the rotating picker members 14 and 15cooperate with each other and with the teeth 18, 19 of the casing toseparate the fibers in the mass, the loose fibers being then depositedupon the shaker screen 83 and distributed in the stream K upon theconveyor 1|, which moves beneath the screen, to form the layer L. Thefibers are then united at their crossing positions by the application ofa fiexible agglutinant to provide a reticulated sheet in a manner asdescribed for the 5 first embodiment.

'Ihe picker members 1|| and 15 being rotated, and the shaker screen 83being reciprocated, from the driving shaft through the respectiveindependently controlled variable speed devices 98 10 and 92, the speedsof picking and shifting may be varied with relation to each other andwith relation to the speeds of conveyors 10 and 1|, and the rate atwhich the separated fibers are deposited upon the belt 1|, andconsequently the fiber 15 density of the layer L, may be regulated asdesired.

Variations may be made without departing from the scope of the inventionas it is defined in the following claims. 20

I claim:

1. The method of making fibrous sheet material which comprises causingloose fibers to iiow in a stream-upon a supporting surface to depositprogressively a layer of the fibers thereupon while 25 causing thefibers to lie in crossed relation and extending predominantly in thesame plane and substantially in the general direction of the streamfiow, and uniting the fibers of said layer at their crossing positionsby a flexible aggluti- 30 nant.

2. Apparatus for making fibrous sheet material comprising a perforatesupporting surface, means for depositing loose fibers thereupon, meansfor blowing the fibers from said surface 35 in a stream through an airspace, a second supporting surface intercepting the flowing fibers, andmeans for causing such relativemovement of the said second surface andthe fiowing fibers as to form progressively a deposited layer of the 40fibers upon the said second surface.

3. Apparatus for manipulating fibers comprising means for causing fibersto fiow in a stream,

a rotatably mounted drum having a wall pervious to air positioned in thepath of said stream, suc- 45 tion means within the drum for drawing thefibers of said stream onto the drum surface, means within the drum forblowing air through its pervious wall at a position peripherally spacedfrom the fiber-receiving position to discharge the 50 fibers in a secondstream, a movable supporting surface positioned in fiber-receivingrelation to the fibers of the second stream, and means for moving thelast said surface to cause a layer of the fibers to be progressivelydeposited upon it. 55

4. Apparatus for making brous sheet material comprising a supportingsurface, means for causing separated fibers to fiow in a stream and tobe progressively deposited therefrom in a layer upon said surface, andmeans included therein 60 for causing the fibers to be disposed in saidlayer in crossing relation and extending predominantly in the same planeand substantially in the general direction of the stream flow.

CHARLES W. LEGUILLON. 65

